


Four Winchester Traditions

by stars28



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Stanford Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 01:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14759637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stars28/pseuds/stars28
Summary: When Sam went to Stanford, he kept some of the traditions taught to him by his brother and Dad, but there was one that he didn’t.





	Four Winchester Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short character study, more than anything.

_“It's okay to be angry and never let go_  
 _It only gets harder the more that you know_  
 _When you get lonely if no one's around…”_  
**\- Empty Apartment, Yellowcard.**

* * *

 

**1 – Salt.**

Even though he was miles away from his Dad, Dean and the life he’d grown up in, Sam Winchester still adhered to the basic Winchester traditions. He knew that three of his previous roommates found it weird – there was a reason they’d all requested transfers within two months of living with him – the salt across all the windows. He couldn’t quite swing putting it across the doors as well, unfortunately. But he _knew_ what was out there, in the dark, so being deemed a ‘weirdo’ was better than being unprepared.

**2 – Sigils.**

Since he was little, in every temporary motel room or rundown apartment they’d rented, Sam had seen Dean carve protective sigils into the bedposts with his penknife. Before that fateful Christmas, he’d thought that they were just for good luck. Afterwards, he’d known the truth. About _everything._ It’d been a shock to say the very least.

Now though, using his own penknife to carve a variety of protective sigils picked up over the years into his bedposts, Sam felt nothing but sad fondness towards his brother. He wanted more than anything to talk to his brother, but he doubted that Dean would pick up the phone. Even though his brother had given him a lift to the nearest bus station after the fight between him and Dad _and_ given him all the money he’d had on him at the time ($53), Sam thought that Dean was proud of him, for being at Stanford, for getting out of the life.

Even so, it would be nice to talk to Dean.

**3 – First Aid Kit.**

Sam’s first aid kit was unlike any other on the market; it was probably most similar to his Dad’s and Dean’s. It contained many unusual things which other people didn’t expect to find in a first aid kit. For example, most people didn’t have dental floss instead of actual thread used for stitching skin back together after a nasty hunt. Then again, most people didn’t engage in the kind of hunting his family did on an almost daily basis. Most people didn’t know the truth about what was out there in the dark.

**+1 – Talking to his family.**

Although Sam kept some of the Winchester traditions, there was one which he stopped almost immediately after getting on the bus to Stanford and it was talking to his family. He missed joking with Dean and discussing hunts after they’d gone well. He even missed – to a certain extent – the arguments that Dad and he had; at least they’d been communicating.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and kudos are welcome.


End file.
